The invention relates to the field of waveguides and integrated circuits.
Electromagnetic waves propagate as spherical waves and expand in all directions. The wave amplitude decreases as the inverse square of the distance, such as in the inverse square law. A waveguide may confine the wave to propagate in one dimension, allowing, under ideal conditions, that the wave does not lose power when propagating. The reflection at the waveguide walls confines the waves to the interior of the waveguide. Therefore, the propagation of the wave in the waveguide may be compared to a zigzag path of a rubber ball bouncing off the waveguide walls. For a hollow metal waveguide with a rectangular or circular cross-section, the electromagnetic wave propagation may be very efficient.
The electronic signals that cause the transmission and reception of the electromagnetic waves are typically produced by integrated circuits (ICs), such as chips, and transmission lines typically connect between the ICs and the waveguides.
For example, on-chip systems operating at the millimeter wavelength and/or terahertz frequencies often use an interconnecting circuit between the integrated circuit (IC), such as a chip, and other parts of the system that may be mainly metallic, such as waveguides antennas, and the/or like. For example, typical chip to waveguide transitions require communicating through a transmission line (TL), such as provided on a printed circuit board (PCB), which may result in connection losses between the IC, TL, and/or PCB. As used herein, the term microwave means electromagnetic radiation and/or a conducted alternating current/voltage signal at a frequency of a millimeter wavelength or up to a terahertz frequency, such as between 1 and 1000 gigahertz frequency.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the figures.